even the damned shall love and be loved
by clangwee
Summary: To him, she is ablaze even without burning and Klaus vows to make her a vampire as great as she can be. To her, he is a glowing god, far from the devil she deems him to be, and Caroline swears with her life to be loyal to him. AU/Series
1. I

**REWRITTEN THE ENDING JUST BECAUSE I CAN.** (No really. It's only a minute change but it felt necessary.)

**Disclaimer:** me no own TVD

* * *

When he first sees her, she is burning.

She is a scene to behold—eyes closed like in a deep prayer, skin blazing wildly beneath the sun.

And he's supposed to let her die. A merciless predator like him does not spare anyone especially a measly infant with a death wish.

But the moment the girl opens her eyes and meets his, he can barely contain himself from running to her rescue.

He knows _innocence_ when he sees it. It's the very thing he had not seen for centuries from what is staring back at him from a mirror.

He knows _courage_ especially if it looks you in the eye unflinchingly as it waits (and burns) painfully for its death.

He knows _light_ so innate and pure and not yielded by her burning.

He knows, most definitely, that this life will be worth the save.

And thus when he comes back home carrying what seems like an immense pile of blankets but with a gentle protectiveness unusual to him, everyone understands.

Lord Niklaus has taken a stray.

* * *

He finds that she is more suicidal than he thinks she is.

The maids tell him she refuses to feed. And when he finally visits her, she only throws the goblet of blood back at him. In a flash, she has her pinned on the wall, his hand gripping her neck.

"Aren't you so eager to die, little one?" His eyes darken.

"Then end me!" She pleads him, fangs protruding her mouth. "Let me cease to be this monstrosity!"

He stares at her wide-eyed, the veins on his face receding slightly. He cannot imagine a creature so willingly embrace its death.

As she feels his hold loosen, she speaks. "Death seems to be my remaining choice."

"There is always another choice, love." He lets her go.

She crumples to the floor, sobbing, and he finds himself sitting down next to her heaving back. "I could let you die, if that's what you want. If you truly believe your existence means nothing." He says grimly.

"But I'll let you in on a little secret." He leans closer, voice softening into a whisper. "There's a whole world out there waiting for you. Great cities, and art, and music."

As she calms, he boldly puts a hand under her chin and lifts her face up to meet his eyes.

"Genuine beauty." He breathes. "And you can have it all. All you have to do is ask."

She feels herself tremble at his words and before she knows it, she mutters.

"I… I don't want to die."

* * *

He visits everyday yet she does not even spare him a glance.

_He hates it, naturally. _A man of his caliber does not have to do as much as a glare to get anyone's attention. But Klaus can be a patient man—mostly to those who strikingly stirs his curiosity.

And bloody hell, he _is_ curious. He wants to know her. To understand her. To have another glimpse of everything about her that made him go against his very nature and saved her life.

"… dark." He finally hears her say.

Perhaps she had tired of lying on her side, staring at the blank wall and obviously shunning him because when Klaus looks up from his sketchbook, she is now watching him with utmost interest.

"How do you draw? It's too dark." She repeats her query.

"We are vampires, love." He simply smiles. "We belong in the dark."

She stares at him thoughtfully before turning to look at the heavily draped windows. "Do we?"

There's a painful longing in her sweet voice, the curtains shadowing her beautiful face. He remembers her burning—the brightness and light she has shone—and he thinks,_ No, you don't._

* * *

With his vivid stories, he relayed to her the beauty of the world as his blue eyes see it. He wants her to see it too. He wants her to _want_ it too.

And despite all of the obvious reasons for her to doubt him, she had let herself listen to his words. Because, despite all of the obvious reasons for her to fear him, he still saved her from herself.

Indeed, Lord Niklaus had been nothing but kind to her and she fancies to think that he only means well when he invited her for a walk _outside_. She has lived in the dark far too long and she is delighted to be able to behold the world again. And although it upsets her she can only tread under the somber moonlight, it is close enough to the light she misses.

Or maybe… He just plainly decided to end her.

She didn't say she has trusted him completely. A part of her believes she has put herself in an even direr predicament being indebted to a man like him.

Caroline groans at the thought as she starts pacing about in her dark room. A few moments later, the door flies open, revealing her beaming savior.

"Come." He says, holding out his hand.

* * *

"Lord Niklaus."

"Klaus, sweetheart."

"Klaus." She repeats. She has a bad feeling about this. "Are we searching for something?"

He chuckles. "No."

"Then I think I should retire, m'lord." She states.

"No, you won't." He insists.

Caroline gulps as she stares up at the lightening sky. She doesn't know how long they've been walking amid the forest but she does know she has to go back.

"Do you trust me, Caroline?" He questions suddenly, catching her off guard.

"I…" She starts to say nervously.

His eyes stares at her gravely. "Because I'm going to let you see the sun."

She stops walking as nausea floods through her. "Are you going to kill me? She tests daringly, seeing the first few streaks of the sun on the horizon. She has no idea how he does it himself but if it's her, she'll surely incinerate to her death.

"Do you trust me?" He asks again more firmly.

"I know I shouldn't." Caroline declares, trying hard not to let her voice shake even in the slightest. "You are a stranger and a possibly dangerous one at that. Yet I owe you my life. And I may very well regret this later but I do." She meets up his eyes." I do trust you."

She expects to be pushed against the tree with a hand on her neck that is why she's utterly stunned when he begins to laugh heartily.

"You are a brave girl for trusting me. Reckless, but brave." He says amusedly as he tosses something to her direction.

She immediately catches it and, when she opens her hand, she finds a ring.

"Lapiz Lazuli." He tells her. "Now go on, love. Wear it. We don't want you up in flames again."

She does as she's told, slipping the ring on her finger. He then leads her further to the woods and they come across a good spot to sit on. And just as then, Caroline feels the rays of the sun touch her skin. She feels no burn or pain, just warmth. Reassuring warmth.

That very moment, she is incandescent. She is ablaze even without burning and Klaus vows to make her a vampire as great as she can be.

That very moment, she could see him clearer than ever. He is a glowing god, far from the devil she deems him to be, and Caroline swears with her life to be loyal to him.

* * *

It's such an irony how she ends up taking refuge with the most feared family that may have walked the earth.

They are a myth—a legend too unimaginable to be thought as true, too frightening to be disregarded as false. Caroline has lived her life perfectly fine without knowing what to believe until she ends up in the arms of one of them.

Until she wakes up inside on of their mansion's elegant bedchambers.

Until she finally finds herself with their company, having an innocent meal.

Caroline edgily eyes the three originals in front of her as she takes the goblet to her lips. Somehow she feels relieved of tasting wine and not blood.

"It was nice to meet you, but I'm afraid I must leave early." Lord Finn tells her detachedly as he finishes eating in a hurry.

"Heavens, Finn, slow down. I'm sure your _lady friend_ will not be going anywhere without you." Lady Rebekah mumbles sardonically. "God knows how desperately clingy that woman is."

Lord Finn only glares at her sharply before departing. She exhales heavily and turns to Caroline beside her. "I don't know what he sees in her, really. She's exceptionally dull. I had to sit with her once and I swear I can barely keep my self from sleeping as she speaks."

At this, Lord Elijah clears his throat while Caroline giggles, finding her frankness refreshing.

"You understand my sense of humor." Lady Rebekah observes, breaking into a grin. "Splendid! And here I thought I will be forever cursed of having an insipid sister because of my brothers' awful tas—".

"Rebekah." Lord Elijah interrupts warningly.

She ignores her older brother and queries Caroline. "You _are_ staying, right?"

Caroline is surprised of her question. "I think… As long as Kla—Lord Niklaus will have me, m'lady." She responds.

"Well, he must!"

"Indeed, he must." A voice whispers closely on her ear. She gasps and turns to see a man, looking strangely like a younger Lord Elijah, smirking at her mischievously.

"And I do hope dear brother will be generous enough to share his new _plaything _with me_._" He takes her hand and places it to his lips.

"_Kol._" Lady Rebekah and Lord Elijah growl in unison.

She promptly snatches her hand away from him. "I am no one's plaything."

He only shrugs, sitting on a chair in front of her. The _We'll see_ he murmurs under his breath does not escape her vampire hearing.

"Where have you been?" His sister then questions him. "You were supposed to join us."

His smirk twists from a playful to wicked one. "Let's just say I've been craving for a _different_ meal entirely."

"What did I tell you about feeding on the maids?" Lord Elijah asks exasperatedly.

"I didn't!" Lord Kol quickly denies. "Actually, I found a tasty little brunette from town…"

"Please. Spare us from the _indecent_ details, Kol." Lady Rebekah scoffs at him.

"Oh, I'm sure it's nothing you lot cannot handle." He wiggles his eyebrows knowingly. "Am I right, Caroline?"

She tries hard not to flush at his suggestive words and answers him brazenly. "I can handle you."

His siblings beam approvingly at her while he roars in laughter. "Well then, I am all yours to handle, m'lady."

At his remark, her control wanes and blushes like mad.

"Having fun without me?"

They all turn to see Lord Niklaus entering the room. He smiles at her but Caroline immediately looks away from him, refusing to be seen flustered. Klaus doesn't like it. _Damn Kol. _He thinks, quite aware of how he teased the girl earlier.

He walks toward them, nodding in acknowledgement to Lord Elijah and Lady Rebekah, but he stops next to Lord Kol.

"Nik." The younger brother greets him. "Sweet Caroline and I are just—"

"Say another word and I'll tear out your liver." He says grimly.

Lord Kol chuckles, unperturbed by his threat. "Oh lighten up, brother."

"Shush, you two." Lady Rebekah rolls her eyes. "We don't need a bloodbath over the dining table. _Again._"

Caroline titters at the exchange infinitesimally. Like a family having a conversation over a meal and, for a moment, the fabled Mikaelsons seemed so _human._ Yet she cannot help to note how casual it is they talk about killing. About death. The banality of it all makes her shiver to her core.

She wonders then when in the not to distant future will she speak such words as impassive as them.

* * *

A shriek snaps her out of her trance.

She sees Klaus flash before the screaming girl, pupils dilating. "Shut it and stay still." He compels and the human cowers shaking in a dark corner.

He gives Caroline a satisfied smirk as he leans against a wall. "By all means." He says, gesturing to something behind her.

Instantly, she spins and beholds of what she had done—Gaspard lying on the floor, mouth bloodied and an arm severed off.

"Please, _my Caroline_." He begs and Klaus snarls. The crippled man flinches, frantically beseeching her eyes. "Have pity!"

"Had you given me and my family even a hair's breadth of pity in the past, I would have given you mine." Without another thought, she snaps one of the stands of a wooden table and drives it to his chest.

"NO PLE—"

Flames engulf him before he could finish and Caroline watches the unmaking of her maker. Indeed, as she had vowed before, she will be the one to put a stake in his heart.

"Not yet." Klaus calls as she makes a move to depart. She turns and sees him holding the human by the arm.

She examines the bites on her neck and the bruises on her face, and she remembers how she was once tattooed by the same marks. From the same _monster._

"Shhh… Everything will be okay." Caroline murmurs, letting the sobbing girl fall into her arms. The blood pumping in her veins begins thundering in her ears straightaway.

Klaus nods at her and, with that, she immediately sinks her fangs to the girl's neck.

"Listen, love." He reminds her and she focuses on the girl's faint heart. As she hears the beat dangerously slows, Caroline pulls away, bites her wrist and feeds her blood to the human.

As the girl heals, she stares straight to her eyes. "You will forget about all of this. You will live your life and die an old woman. Now, go."

The girl quickly abides and runs away. Caroline has her hand tightly gripping on Klaus' arm, willing herself not to go after her. One death in her hands is enough... for now.

A few moments later, she feels Klaus' hand on top of hers. He holds up her wrist to his lips.

"Good girl." He whispers, drinking the remaining trickle of blood from her closing wound. It is amusing how he cannot seem to hold back himself with her. He is eternally enchanted by this girl so strong, beautiful and full of light.

She shudders at the sensation, cheeks heating profusely. Klaus smirks, knowing he has this effect on the baby vampire. Caroline then rolls her eyes at his smugness, her fieriness surging back.

"Touchy much, m'lord?" She tells him teasingly. She walks past him but before she can go further away, she feels him breathe on her neck.

"Only to you."  
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* * *

**A/N: **First of all, I'm sorry. I'm a failure and I haven't updated Off Limits. I am stuck on a rut and have been really busy this past few weeks with my new job so I feel like I haven't been able to put enough love into writing that. But don't worry. I'm not abandoning Off Limits! I just badly needed a breather.

Hope you enjoy this one anyway. I've been meaning to write something like this for like forever. Plus I've missed writing about the supernatural world. :)

This is supposed to be a oneshot but… Oh well. I'm still trying to make this short and sweet so a threeshot, maybe.

As always, reviews are very much appreciated. Thank you. :D


	2. II

**BEFORE YOU PROCEED, I'VE REWRITTEN CHAPTER 1 A LITTLE BIT.** You might want to check that out first. Thank you. R&R.

**Disclaimer:** me no own TVD

* * *

She finally enters the banquet, her brown eyes and olive skin gleaming under the candlelight. Her luscious red dress immediately distinguishes her from the rest and the crowd parts as she makes her way to the center. Lord Niklaus bows before her, offering her his hand, and her long curly locks sways alluringly on her back as they commence with the dance.

_Katerina Petrova._

Her coming had been very much anticipated. The whole of the castle had been completely engrossed, waiting to see this mysterious beauty with their own eyes. Finn, however, was by no means interested of the girl while Rebekah only snorted irritably, muttering something like "trouble" and "tramp" under her breath. Kol, on the other hand, wore permanent leer on his face especially around the warm and welcoming Elijah, and suspiciously gracious Klaus.

For Caroline, it just felt splendid to finally put a name to a face she has only seen from his sketches. She doesn't ask him but she knows from the way he lovingly portrays the woman that she is someone special. _It's not the same girl_, Klaus tells her with the vague detachment as always. _And it's been too long ago. _He adds. Seriously, he _never_ tells her anything.

All she is certain about is that this girl is _his _and Caroline is to protect her no matter what. Indeed, when she pledged her life for Klaus, she also pledge her life for her.

"Don't worry, sweetheart. You're still Nik's favorite." says a voice from behind her.

"You're still here?" She raises a brow. "Shouldn't you be already whoring yourself to some desperate matron?"

Kol smirks, tipping his wine glass to her. "You're getting better at this."

"Of course." She grins at him widely. "I've lived five years with you and your endless banter with Rebekah. I picked up a lot."

"And that is why we kept you around, you little spitfire." He says knowingly as she downs his drink and then crosses his arms. "But what's this I hear about the doppelgänger making a fool of you in front of the duke's daughters?"

She only rolls her eyes. Katerina _did_ _not_ make a fool of her. Caroline just chose not to react or, worse, not to _snap her neck_ when she whispered a nasty word about her to the girls.

"Oh how my brothers really spoil her too much." Kol groans frustratedly. "Even before, I never liked her."

"I thought you're into brunettes?"

"Not her, obviously." He mumbles, leaning down to her frame, his eyes scanning her face. "I guess I'm more into... what's the word she used? A 'blonde bimbo'?"

"Oh shush." She tries pushing him back by the shoulder only to have her hand caught in his.

"Dance with me."

Caroline glances unconsciously to the couple dancing in the middle of the room. Really, she has seen him with a handful of women over the years yet this is like a scene out of a romance novel. And somehow, it stings. She doesn't know why but looking at them, she feels... rather _lonely_.

Snapping her back to reality, she feels a hand on her chin and suddenly she is staring at Kol's brown eyes.

He smiles. "Shall we?"

* * *

Parties. Next to power, the original family is much known for the lavish parties they always throw.

She could only wish of extravagance such as this before and now, she is living the dream. At the same time, these are moments she feels being her seventeen year-old self again—young, alive... and _human_.

Oh, how she could get used to these parties everyday. Especially because of the dresses. The dancing. And the _men._ She giggles heartily at how they hopelessly attempt to dance with her, earning them a menacing glare from Kol.

She laughs so sweetly and a certain dimpled original cannot help but to smile at the sound.

"Kol dotes on her, doesn't he?"

Klaus turns to the doe-eyed brunette in front of him and nods simply. _Too much. _He says inwardly.

"Lord Niklaus, I—" Katerina starts, the blood rushing on her cheeks. "I am grateful for this celebration."

Klaus offers her a toothy grin. If only she knew.

From behind them, someone clears his throat. "Lord Elijah?" Katerina addresses the older original.

"Excuse me." Klaus murmurs, hastily leaving Katerina to his brother, and makes his way to the blonde vampire.

"Klaus." Caroline immediately beams at him as she notices his presence.

"May I have this dance?" He says, looking at the girl and to Kol who throws his hand up.

"Yeah, whatever." The younger brother mutters, walking away.

Klaus holds her hand in one of his while the other rests on her back. "Are you having fun, love?"

"Yes." She tells him before dropping her gaze to the ground. "I haven't seen you all day."

"I'm here now." He says, his greenish-blue eyes beseeching her blue ones. "But you've been too occupied with Kol, it seems."

"He reminds me of my brother. I've already told you this plenty of times." Caroline smiles thoughtfully. Indeed, she has been too attached with the Mikaelsons and, if she may be allowed to say it, she even thinks of them as her new family.

"And I don't tire of hearing it." He chuckles playfully at the roll of her eyes. "Tell it again. Tell me about them, about your story."

"Really, Klaus?" She questions in disbelief. "Right now?"

"Please?" He pleads, grinning and his dimples showing. Ugh, he knows her weakness and he's using it against her impeccably.

"Okay." She says in a small voice and he pulls her closer, his chin resting on her shoulder. She notices the curious eyes and cruel sneers of some guests and immediately, she feels anxious. To them, she is only Klaus' loyal aide—an orphaned infant vampire whom, for some unknown reason, he decided to make his ward. She never understood how much that really meant until she realized anyone would be willing to _kill_ just to be under the Mikaelsons' good graces.

"Caroline?" He whispers suddenly in her hair as he traces patters on her lower back. He knows this soothes her.

"So," She sighs, feeling his breath against her skin. "When I was a little girl..."

* * *

When she was a little girl, she remembers falling off a tree. It had been most traumatizing moment that she never thought she could experience much more physical pain that. Not even in the hands of her then abusive sire, where most of the time she was either drugged or compelled, could she forget the sting of that memory.

And that particular memory replayed in her mind the moment an unbelievable jolt of pain shoot through her entire body. She remembers herself falling, her frail little body hitting the solid ground, little rocks digging behind her back and—

"Oh God, it barely missed." A voice—Rebekah, she thinks—mutters frantically as she feels her hover above her. On the background, she hears a lot of hysterical screaming and... _cracking._

And then it all comes back.

It was the night right after the feast.

The attack.

The doppelgänger.

_The stake._

Caroline exhales heavily before lifting her hand weakly to feel the wood embedded in her chest. It hurts. It's one thing when she was training with the siblings-she knows they would never hurt her for real-but this...

"We need to get it out!" She hears Kol growl amid Katerina's loud sobbing. She feels him sit beside her, wrap his hands with hers around the stake, and she doesn't miss the guilt swimming in his brown eyes. "This is going to hurt."

And he pulls.

She screams. She screams so much she feels her undead heart will burst. And then she is slipping away. Slowly. _Dangerously._

And before he succumbs to the darkness, she sees _him_—surrounded by dismembered limbs, hands covered in blood. He is furious. Well, Klaus is almost always furious but this is a different kind. Caroline has never seen him like this.

It scares her. She doesn't want her last memory of him to be this monster.

* * *

A whole day. She's been out for a whole day, that is as much as Rebekah would tell her when she woke up. Although her tear-streaked face and the way she hisses Klaus' name in disgust says she's not telling Caroline _everything._

"Excuse me." Rebekah mumbles, hastily leaving her room when the said brother enters. Caroline doesn't miss the angry look she gives her brother before she walks out of the room. On the other hand, the expression he wears is unreadable and for some reason, Caroline cannot meet his eyes.

"Ho... How is Katerina?" She asks, stuttering, as she fiddles on her nightgown.

"Compelled." He answers curtly.

"Is she unhurt?"

"Yes."

"That's good."

"That's good?" He repeats, his voice mocking. "Aren't you the martyr?"

Her head snaps up to glare at him. "What are you talking about?"

"You just took a _stake_ in the chest." He tells her exasperatedly. "And yet now you speak as if nothing as such happened."

Caroline bites her lip. "I just did what I had to do. I was the closest one to her."

"Nonsense." He mutters, pinching the bridge of his nose. Irritated doesn't even cover half of what he is feeling. Inwardly he mocks himself of how this girl—_this mere infant_—can rouse the most anger in him.

"I swore my life protect her." She says firmly.

In a second, Klaus rises from his chair and lunges toward her. Even with her vampire instincts, she sits frozen in shock as his stern face closes to a breath's distance from hers.

"No." He says grimly. "You swore your life to _me_. Not to Katerina. Not to anyone... Not to _Kol."_

"Kol?" She asks. There is something ominous in the way he said his younger brother's name that Caroline cannot just ignore. Instantly, his features soften as he straightens up to turn his back on her. "What happened, Klaus?"

He exhales heavily. "He will be... gone for a while."

"What did you do?" She questions further, panicked, as she stands to grasp his arm. "He's your brother!"

"A brother who has betrayed me!" Klaus growls, facing her, eyes are darkened, "He conspired with Mikael! He almost got my doppelgänger killed... He almost got _you_ killed!"

Caroline looks at him incredulously, her mind drowning in questions_. _Of course, she has been aware of the their rift with their father. They're all pretty mum about the details. Yet through the years she's been with this family, she always thought the siblings' relationship were unshakable. She cannot believe someone would turn against the other. She cannot believe _Kol_ would be capable of such a thing.

"Our family's predicament is much more complicated than you think it is." Klaus speaks, noticing her confusion. "It needs to be done."

She finds herself nodding at his words as she wraps her arms around her body, hugging herself. She feels the hurt in his voice and she thinks this might be difficult for him too.

"You have to trust me, Caroline." Klaus stands closer to her, tucking a stand of her hair behind her ear. "And please.. Give your life a little more value."

He flashes away before she can respond, leaving her wondering if she is just imagining the lingering kiss she feels on her temple.

* * *

Everything crumbles when Katerina escaped.

The sacrifice had been a failure.

Finn was gone.

Kol was gone.

Rebekah was gone.

Elijah was gone.

In the blink of an eye, the famed Mikaelsons, the legend—invincible, unyielding, _always and forever_—lay ruined.

It didn't actually come as a surprise. The fall-out had been long brewing. Especially after the attack and the betrayal, their ties had been hanging by a thread. Caroline thought it would only be a matter of time before the siblings tried to destroy each other.

And if that ever happened, she thought, she knew who's side she will be, who's side she'll remain.

This is what she tells Rebekah when she asked her to leave with her.

"Why?" The original asks her.

Caroline gives her a sad smile. "If I knew, I'd tell you."

With that, Rebekah hugs Caroline the final time. She is the last to go and Klaus doesn't even see her before she leaves. Caroline hugs her a little longer because of that.

All the while, he is standing quietly by the fountain. Caroline finds him there, straining his ears for the sound of the carriage in the distance. He doesn't turn when she approaches but only murmurs.

"I thought you have left with Rebekah."

"Do you want me to?" She asks warily, afraid of hearing his answer.

He sighs. "You should go."

"Wha—What do you mean?"

He faces her, eyes stern and piercing. "Leave, Caroline."

"But why?" She asks desperately. "I chose to stay with you."

"You aren't indebted to me, love."

"You saved my life."

"And you served me well." He mutters in a cold indifferent voice. "Now, you are free to go."

_Freedom_. Caroline feels herself becoming even more frustrated. She is alive now because _of him_. And in all honesty, without him and Rebekah and Kol... she will have nothing. With her human family gone, this is the only life she knows and the only life has. Ever since that day when he offered her the world, she cannot imagine a different one. This freedom he speaks of... is nothing but _frightening_ to her.

A few moments of silence pass before she speaks again, her tone melancholic.

"I swore my life to you, you said so yourself." She tells him. "If I already served my purpose then my life is yours to take." She shakes her head defeatedly. "Nothing matters anymore. I have—"

And then his lips are on hers. His hands cups her face and she finds herself wrapping her arms around his neck. Time seems to slow down around them as they melt in each other's embrace. It lasts long and when she pulls back, she is smiling sweetly until she sees his pupils dilating.

"What the hell are you doing?" She demands, trying to move away but is rendered motionless. "You won't." She whispers. She is crying now and he is still holding her face between his hands. He brushes a tear off her cheek with his thumb.

"It needs to be done."

"Don't you dare tell me that. I will never forgive this." She spits, glaring daggers at him. "I will never forgive _you_."

Klaus only nods at her and she thinks she sees a tear escape his eye but alas, she'll never be certain. The immense blackness already overtakes her.

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* * *

**A/N: **What can I say? I am also in love Koroline. :)

Anyway, does anything here make sense at all? Unbeta-d and written at, like, 2 o'clock in the morning. I'm sorry.

Anyway 2.0. I decided to wrap up this fic first before going on with Off Limits. I hope to finish this by next week.

Thank you for those who already reviewed this! And really, the overwhelming love I received from my oneshot/drabble series truly inspired me. You guys are beautiful. Please keep 'em coming.


	3. III

**Disclaimer:** me no own TVD

* * *

In the end, he could not do it.

It would have been easier, really. To banish her entirely from his life and them from hers. From Rebekah. From Kol. From Elijah. _From Mikael._

But Klaus is selfish. Almost too much.

He's going to spend the whole of his existence, tortured with this... _sentiments. _About her. Of her. _For her. _And he cannot bear to know that every damn feeling he's going to live with for eternity will be meaningless because she doesn't even remember him anymore.

No, he is too selfish and too proud for that.

He wants her to remember him in every detail as he will remember her forever.

He wants her to remember him even if every memory is laced with hatred. With treachery. With disgust.

And although he compelled her not to look after him and his family, he can live knowing that somewhere out there he still occupies a part of her mind as she will occupy every corner of his. And hopefully, a part of her heart too, as she will forever have the whole of his in her hands.

* * *

Elijah shakes his head at his smirk, shoving the piece of paper in his face. Klaus doesn't know his older brother's intentions of coming to him and showing him this "list" the doppelganger had written until he saw her name.

"Do you understand what this means, Niklaus?" Elijah asks.

"Crystal."

"And you do not feel bothered?"

"I am bothered but I'm impressed." Klaus replies albeit chuckling slightly. This must be her very own way of revenge—finding the new doppelganger even before he could. Centuries had passed and yet, she still surprises him of her cleverness and audacity. And as much as he'd like to boast that he was the one who taught her all of that but he knows he would be lying. He knows she has them all innate in herself, as these are the reasons he was drawn to her in the first place.

Elijah raises a brow at him. "She could be a great hindrance, Niklaus."

"I take it as a challenge." He says nonchalantly. "And may I remind you that you are currently on_ their _side, brother."

"This is an entirely different matter. She knows you. She knows all of us."

Klaus doesn't miss the threat in his voice and immediately, he has his brother by the neck.

"Do not even think of touching her, Elijah." He growls menacingly. "Or I will end you."

The older brother meets his fiery eyes with his cold ones before calmly pushing him off of him and fixing his rumpled coat.

"You need to control your emotions, Niklaus." He tells him grimly as he walks out his door. "Your humanity is showing."

* * *

And well, perhaps Elijah was right in that.

_I'm just human_, he wants to say, if that phrase applies to him at all.

He cannot help himself.

He compelled her not to look for them but he can look for her.

And now, he wants to see her. _Badly._

"Woah, Ric." She half shouts, surprised when he promptly came behind her as she was getting herself a drink. A few students nearby look curiously at their direction and Caroline clears her throat. "I mean, Mr. Saltzman... You startled me."

Her statement is met by silence as he only stares at her, taking in how she glows in her pink dress. Indeed, she remains beautiful whatever decade she is in. Forever suits her.

Confused, Caroline glances anxiously among the crowd for signs of trouble. "Is everything okay? Where is—"

"Would you care for a dance, Caroline? He asks her all of a sudden.

Her eyes immediately widen. "Wha-What?" She manages to blurt out. She doesn't have a clue on what to say to him and this is beginning to be... awkward. _Creepy awkward_. And yet she cannot help but to feel something different about him. Like an air of familiarity on the way he looks at her and on how he talks...

"Caroline!" She hears Ele a call from the other side of the room.

"Uhm, sorry..." She gestures at her friend, smiling apologetically. He smiles back at her, wondering if she'll still smile at him the next time they see each other. In his own body, of course.

The infinitesimal sadness in his eyes does not escape her attention so she offers. "Maybe... Next time?"

His grin grows bigger and for some reason, her heart clenches painfully. She walks away from him immediately but not before he tells her.

"You owe me."

* * *

He thought killing Mikael would finally fill this void in his dead heart. Still, as he watches his father burn to his death, the void remains.

Perhaps that part of him is really lost to him forever.

And that thought only makes him want kill Mikael all over again.

* * *

"This is your fault." Her voice resolute and yet he can see the wetness of her eyes.

"I know, love."

"Don't call me that. You don't have the right to call me that." She croaks and he notices how weaker she is getting by the second.

"I know, I know..." He says almost desperately as he offers her his wrist. "Just drink it, please."

She glares at him in silence before trying to sit up. He supports her and pretends to ignore how she flinches at his touch.

"I still hate you..." She tells him before sinking her fangs to his skin. "And this changes nothing."

"I know."

* * *

"I see blue is still your best color." He says against her hair as his mind drifts back to the 15th century, in the middle of a dance, where she is laughing in his arms, and whispering stories of her childhood in his ear.

"Can we not talk, please?" Caroline groans. Really, the guy has the nerve to ask her for a dance. Yes, he saved her so she thinks she owes him this much but it is his damn fault that she was bitten in the first place, right?

She feels him smirk on her bare shoulder, sending chills down her spine. _No_, she tells herself. He shouldn't have this effect on her. No, not anymore. After all this years...

Her breath hitched and Klaus feels her tremble slightly. She hangs her head low on his shoulder, eyes closed and damp. Must she really always cry in his presence?

"I see you had quite a disappointing reunion with Rebekah and Kol." He tells her to change the mood.

As expected, the fire in her eyes comes back. " You are the only one I consider as my enemy."

"Ah, am I not lucky to be hold in such high regard?"

"I mean it, Klaus." She looks at him straight in the eye. "I will not let you ruin this girl's life. Not this one, Klaus. She's my friend. All of them are my friends and you know what, this is my family now. _My life._ And you are not screwing this up. Not again. Not ever."

"What did we say about the talking, love?" His smirk only widens and she rolls her eyes.

A moment of silence passes and as the music is nearing to a stop he asks her in a solemn voice. "Do you hate me, Caroline?"

"Yes." She replies without a beat of hesitation.

He only nods at her, and before letting her go, he pulls her closer to him, his lips hovering over hers.

"Give your life a little more value." He whispers to her and then he's gone, leaving her alone and cold in the middle of the dance floor. She sighs heavily, her eyes fixed on the empty space before her and murmurs. "Ditto."

* * *

When he sees her again, she is burning. Although, she really isn't.

Still, he remembers that day in the forest. Her light was blinding, almost as if a monster like him—a creature of the dark—was not allowed to look at her. And yet he corrupted her and dimmed her of her light.

"Klaus?" A faint voice calls and then he feels liquid flowing into his mouth. _Blood. _And at once, reality sinks in along with the weakness and the hunger. The stake... The spell... The darkness...

"Are you okay?" The voice says again. Immediately, he adjusts his eyes to the light and there she is, smiling at him warily.

He has an unreadable expression on his face and on his fourth blood bag, he finally speaks. "How long...?"

"A century." She tells him and notes the shock in his eyes. He then stands wordlessly away from her, immersed in deep thought, and she lets him. She knows he needs a moment to absorb everything. It isn't a pleasurable feeling at all knowing you have just lost a hundred years of your life, as Kol told her.

After a while she joins him by the window, gazing at the ocean.

"Where are we?"

"Peru."

"It's beautiful." He murmurs, his eyes flicking at her, and she nods in agreement.

"How did you find me?"

"I asked Damon."

He turns to look at her, curious. "And he told you?"

"I had a hundred years." She grins at him but his expression remains melancholic.

"Why, Caroline?" He questions her ardently.

"I-I hated you." She starts to explain but her eyes are already brimming with tears. "I hated you so much that it consumed me. I stayed away, just as you compelled me to, but the pain... I wish you had just taken away my memories too. No, I wished you had just killed me." Her face is streaked with tears and wipes them with her hands. "And there was nothing but emptiness and the numbness. I thought finally I got rid of you in me entirely. But when you were desiccated.. Maybe it was your compulsion wearing off or some other reason I can't fathom but... The moment you were desiccated, everything, every fiber of my being screamed of finding you.

And perhaps, everyone was right." She chuckles a little amid her sobs. "Perhaps, something's wrong with me because I.. I can't bear losing you. No, not like this. And now that Elena's a vampire already, the line ending with her... I think you deserve another chance."

"After all I've done?" He asks her gravely, the uncertainty in his dead heart unbearable. "You are willing to accept me?"

She nods at him, smiling, and he takes her face into his hands and whispers against her lips. "What did I do to deserve you?"

"You promised me the world." She tells him before kissing him. _Finally._

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* * *

**A/N:** And thus, it is done. It didn't completely turn out the way I wanted it to be but nevertheless, I'm satisfied.

I am grateful to everyone who had read this! Special thanks to **Element Siren, YouCan'tFightDestiny, Guest, recyclings, Caaro, IWillLoveYouAlwaysAndNever, Ceaa, nicaha23, klauslove, Kelly-Starfly, musicalfreak, she . dreams . in . color**. LOVE YOU ALL!

Anyway, I have an upcoming Klaroline AU/oneshot set in the WWII! Squeee~! I hope you're excited as I am! :D

follow me on tumblr! hypertunnelvision . tumblr . com


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